Ensure foolproof cyber security, says PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday underscored the need for the foolproof cyber security of digitised documents so that the country can reap the maximum benefits from digitisation keeping cyber criminals at bay,UNB reports.

“All need to remain alert so that the secrecy of financial sector and classified matters could not be breached in any way. We’ll also have to take measures so that no one could commit crimes taking advantage of our digital facilities,” she said.

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating the country’s largest digital expo ‘Digital World-2016’ at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) showcasing the technology-based innovations and achievements and facilitate in a single platform for sharing ICT knowledge and ideas.

The three-day flagship annual event of the country’s ICT sector with the theme ‘Non-stop Bangladesh’ organised by the ICT Division in collaboration with Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC), Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and A2I programme of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Sheikh Hasina said there have been some problems with the degitisation process in the country. “So, we’ll have to increase our capacity about cyber security. And we’ll train up manpower and procure necessary equipment,” she said.

The Prime Minister mentioned that the government is going to enact a law, ‘Digital Security Act 2016’, for giving legal protection to the country’s digitization system.

“Under this law, there’ll be a world-class digital forensic lab, a cybersecurity agency, a cyber-incident response team and a high-level digital security council,” she said. The Prime Minister said steps have been taken to connect Bangladesh with the second submarine cable as there is no alternative to it for the country.

Hasina said Bangladesh has already joined the SEA-ME-WE-5 d consortium and it will get one thousand and 300 GBPS bandwidth from the second submarine cable.

Citing that the work on installing the country’s own satellite “The Bangabandhu Satellite-1, is progressing fast, she said Bangladesh could even export satellite bandwidth after launching it in 2017 and meeting its own demand.

The Prime Minister said all the 17 textbooks from class I to class V have been transformed into digital ones or e-books while the government set up 30,000 multimedia classrooms across the country to upgrade teaching system to global standard, she said.

About digital lab, Hasina said, nearly 5500 such labs, including 2100 Sheikh Russel Digital Labs, have so far been set up in the country while more 10,000 Sheikh Russel Digital Labs would be set up by the end of 2018.

Not only that, Bangladesh is now also exporting software and ICT services to about 40 countries, including some developed nations, she said. The Prime Minister went round different stalls set up on the convention city premises as well as inaugurated six Smart Buses having all ICT facilities to impart training on ICTs to women.

Earlier, an audio-visual presentation was also screened on notable progress and development of women in digital technology in Bangladesh while the theme song of the Digital World 2016 was also played before the audience.

Over 200 speakers, including 43 from world famous organisations such as Microsoft, Facebook, the World Bank, ZTE and Huawei are taking part in 18 sessions of the exposition. Besides, seven ministers from seven countries are going to take part in an inter-ministerial conference.

Over 5,00,000 visitors, including 43 foreign ICT experts, corporate, institutional and individual buyers as well as a cross-section of people, including investors and entrepreneurs, government officials and policymakers, professionals, journalists, academicians and students are expected to visit the expo.